Wilted Rue
by ladybugbirdie42
Summary: Toris has been trying his best to take care of his two younger brothers, but with two different groups of mutants trying to recruit him to their side of a war, the life he's created for them is threatened. But maybe this will turn out to be the change they needed, especially when the past they've been trying to outrun finally catches up with them.


**A/N: Are author's notes even a thing anymore? Apologies in advance for anyone who's ooc (particularly on the xmen end). The opening is kind of rocky, but hopefully it'll get better as it goes. I have big plans for this. The only thing left to do is see if I can deliver. But enough about that, please enjoy.**

* * *

It was a regular weekday morning at the Xavier Institute. The students were all gathered in the dining room eating breakfast and everyone was talking all at once about some teacher or what some girl said to another or some such thing.

The opening and closing of the door as Professor Xavier rolled in went unnoticed by the students as they were consumed with their meal and conversations. The Professor waited a few seconds for his students to take notice of his presence, but when they continued to ignore him, he cleared his throat. This, of course, was drowned out by the inevitable din of a room full of adolescents.

The Professor wasn't one to raise his voice as he saw no point in trying to be heard above the voices of a group of other people. Besides he had an easier and more effective way to gain the attention of a bunch of rowdy teenagers – telepathy.

" _If you would all give me your attention for a few minutes, I have an announcement before you go off to school."_

It took a moment for everyone to settle down and focus their attention on the Professor.

"Thank you," Charles said once everyone was quiet. Then he continued, "Cerebro has detected a new mutant."

"Where at?" Kurt asked excitedly, thinking of all the different places they could go. "Hawaii? L.A.?"

"Bayville," the Professor answered with a slight smile.

The students groaned in disappointment as their hopes of skipping school to go somewhere cooler were dashed.

"So who is it, Professor?" Scott, being one of the more "responsible" ones, was the first to set the conversation back on track.

"A boy by the name of Toris Laurinaitis."

Silence fell upon the room for a moment as the high school students tried to remember which of the many students that particular name belonged to. Of course, being a relatively uncommon name (in their city, at least), it didn't take too long to place the name.

"You mean that weird kid everyone always beats up?" Evan offered.

The Professor didn't reply for a few moments. Eventually he said, "Well, it's clear that he is in need of some friends. Why don't some of you go talk to him, invite him to join us?"

"Like, not me," Kitty immediately said. "I, like, heard that he has this, like, friend who got in a fight with these boys and, like, totally almost sent them to the hospital!"

The Professor raised his eyebrow at that.

"I'm sure the rumors were exaggerated, Kitty," Jean said.

"Then, like, _you_ talk to him cuz I don't want to!"

"It's fine. Me and Jean will talk to him," Scott cut in.

The professor nodded. "All right, then. Now hurry and finish your food. I don't want you to be late."

* * *

This morning was chaotic.

More so than usual.

Well, honestly, the chaos was purely mental. The only sounds in the small apartment were that of butter sizzling in a hot pan and, now, the shrill ringing of their home telephone, but Toris had overslept. Again. It was a bad habit he was getting into. Really, he wished his brothers wouldn't let him get away with it. Sure, it was nice to stay in bed just a little longer but once he was fully conscious he immediately went into full-panic mode. The entire morning he felt rushed trying to get ready for the day and cooking breakfast and making sure his brothers were set and he _really_ didn't have time for a phone call.

"Raivis, could you get that?" he called as he flipped a pancake.

"'Kay." He heard soft footsteps as his youngest brother entered the kitchen and picked up the phone from where it sat on the end of the counter. "Hello?"

Toris's other brother, Eduard, came in and began setting the table. Toris offered him a grateful smile.

"It's Feliks," Raivis said, cupping his hand over the phone.

Toris groaned. He loved his friend. Really he did. But he was _not_ in the mood to deal with him at the moment. "Tell him whatever he has to say can wait thirty minutes."

Raivis delivered his message while Toris turned off the stove and began serving breakfast.

"He says that he's bringing lunch for everyone, so don't pack any."

"Tell him no."

"But he's already bought everything."

Eduard chuckled, commenting, "I've never seen anyone get so upset at the prospect of a free lunch."

Toris huffed. "Sit down and eat your breakfast."

* * *

For once in his life, Scott Summers wasn't entirely sure what to do. He had volunteered to talk to Toris but suddenly wasn't feeling so confident anymore. How to approach him, what to say. Should he just get right to the point?

He quickly grew frustrated. Why was this so hard? It wasn't as if they had never recruited before. They'd done this plenty of times before. Him especially as one of the senior members.

They didn't have any classes together, so he figured he'd have to find him in the halls between classes. Maybe lunch? Did they even have the same lunch period?

As luck would have it, though, he didn't have as hard a time finding Toris as he thought he would. As he was walking to his first period, he noticed Toris at his locker, arguing with a blond.

"Like, I don't see what the big deal is!"

"I already told you, Feliks, I—" he cut himself off when he noticed Scott approaching them. A friendly smile replaced the frustrated scowl. "Yes? Can I help you?"

Scott tried his best to ignore the blond who was trying to glare holes in the side of his head. "Hey, Toris, right?" At the nod of affirmation, he continued. "Could you meet me after school? I need to talk to you about something."

"Ooh, like a love confession~?"

Toris elbowed him, shooting a quick glare in his direction before turning back to Scott. "Um, sure, as long as it doesn't take too long. I have work."

"It shouldn't take too long. I just want to talk," he assured him.

Toris nodded. "That's fine, then." He turned back to his locker to finish pulling out the textbooks he needed, but Feliks wasn't finished with the conversation.

He pulled Scott away from Toris and hissed in a low whisper so that Toris wouldn't overhear. "If you're trying to get him into anything weird, Summers, I will personally kick your butt."

"Noted," Scott replied, for once not taking it as a challenge. Whether or not, this Feliks really could kick his butt was irrelevant. He wasn't planning on endangering Toris in the first place, so it didn't matter either way.


End file.
